


A Stupid Crush

by melonbread (ApocalypseUmbra)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Relationship Advice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-02-26 19:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2664374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApocalypseUmbra/pseuds/melonbread
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kageyama could handle lots of things: his annoying co-workers at the coffeeshop, repugnant pumpkin spice lattes, difficult volleyball opponents. But romance was definitely not on the list.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Yes, pumpkin spice lattes are that bad, and no, I am not being melodramatic, why do you ask?

The next dumbshit moron to walk through that door and order a pumpkin spice latte was going to get a scalding cup of coffee to the face. Or they would, if Kageyama wouldn’t be fired if he did that. His customer service record was already bad enough, or so his coworkers said. But that drink was so finicky and the smell stuck to his clothes no matter how many times he washed them and he was sick and tired of making the damn things. Thank god it was only around for another two weeks.

As Kageyama was brooding, a customer yanked open the shop door, shivering despite the thick scarf wrapped around his neck. When he pulled off his hat, fluffy orange hair fell around his ears. He almost looked like a pumpkin himself.

“Welcome to the Crow’s Nest Coffeehouse, how may I help you?” Kageyama’s coworker asked cheerfully. Sugawara was one of the few at the shop who could stand to be around him for an entire shift without either of them feeling like they needed to punch something. Also, Suga was the only person who could calm him down, so shifts were significantly less stressful with him around.

“Uh, the pumpkin spice lattes are good, right? I’ll have one of those,” Pumpkin-head said, eliciting a groan from Kageyama. Unfortunately, it seemed like he really couldn’t get a break ever. “What’s wrong with you?” Pumpkin-head asked, brow furrowed.

“What’s wrong is that drink you ordered,” Kageyama complained. The usual chipper smile faded from Suga’s face as he shot Kageyama a warning look. But Kageyama was getting started down the usual warpath now and there was no stopping him. “It’s not even that good, order something else.”

“What? No, now I want it even more!”

Suga looked alarmed now. “Don’t mind him, it’s no—”

Pumpkin-head’s comment had hit a nerve. It was just so deliberate and Kageyama couldn’t back down, so he steamrolled over Suga’s words and retorted, “Why are you being so difficult?”

“You’re the one refusing me my drink! I’m not getting anything else, so there!”

“Okay, stop,” Suga cut in, forcing a smile at the guy across the counter while simultaneously glaring daggers at Kageyama. Sheesh. How’d he even pull that off? “Kageyama, just make the drink, it’s not a big deal. I’m sorry for him. Should we put a name down on your cup?”

The guy relaxed, looking horribly smug as Kageyama seethed. “Hinata.”

Kageyama was handed a cup with Pumpkin-head’s actual name printed neatly on it, along with his stupid order. He made the drink as loudly and obnoxiously as possible, just to let everybody know what a pain in the ass it was. After finishing the godforsaken drink, he handed it off to Sugawara, who apologized again for his coworker.

Pumpkin-head (Hinata? That was it) took the cup and gulped down what must have been at least a fourth of it. He looked directly at Kageyama and said, “Wow, you must be an idiot! These are good, I think I’ll get one tomorrow too.” With that, he left. Kageyama felt more annoyed that he’d ever thought possible.

“Really? Again?” Suga sighed. “You need to stop getting in fights with the people paying our bills, Kageyama.”

“They need to stop being assholes,” Kageyama grumbled.

He had a sneaking suspicion Pumpkin Spice Douche of the Week wouldn’t back down on his promise, and that prospect deepened his usual scowl into something more terrifying than usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the baristas at the shop are suga, kageyama, noya, and yamaguchi. it'd be a complete wreck if suga wasn't managing it. everyone will show up sooner or later.


	2. No, I definitely don’t have an ulterior motive for coming here, what are you implying?

True to his word, Hinata came back to the Crow’s Nest Coffeehouse every day for two weeks. The lattes were pretty good, sure, but his real reason for coming back was the rude barista. For some reason, Hinata found him really funny. It was weird, but they kinda got along. Even their arguments devolved into joking jabs instead of being real disputes.

They seemed to have made a sort of uneasy friendship after Hinata had shown that, yes, he really was going to come in every day and order the same thing, and yes, he would make fun of Kageyama as much as possible. Learning his name had been notably hilarious; Kageyama had somehow forgotten the bright nametag pinned to his shirt and he’d nearly jumped out of his skin when Hinata called him by name. He’d gotten a particularly nasty glare for that episode, but it’d been worth it to see the look on his face. Priceless.

Hinata was fine with the way things were going, but he knew that pumpkin spice lattes would go out of season pretty soon and then he wouldn’t have an excuse to see that idiot every day. The thought was unexpectedly sad and he spent days in class trying to dream up reasons to keep the habit.

He wasn’t that surprised when he placed his order, only to be told that pumpkin spice lattes were gone until next year. He knew today was the day. But he wasn’t going to give up that easily.

“I said, I want a pumpkin spice latte,” Hinata repeated.

“And _I_ said, we don’t make those anymore,” Kageyama shot back, with the air of stating the obvious to a kid having a temper tantrum.

“I don’t care, I want my drink.” Hinata knew he looked pretty immature, but dammit, he was going to stretch this time out as much as possible.

“How thick is your skull if you can’t even acknowledge what I’m saying? I am speaking, right? You do understand basic language, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t change my order.”

“You’re such an idiot, I can’t believe you,” Kageyama growled. “You need to order something or leave.”

Hinata huffed. “Well, I really wanted that latte. So I guess I’ll have to stay here until I think of something else to get.” With that, he pulled out his laptop and connected to the shop’s wifi.

“What? You can’t do that!” Kageyama snapped.

“Obviously I can, I just did. Can’t you see that? Geez, you’re really stupid, aren’t you?” Hinata said nonchalantly.

“You—you can’t, that’s loitering!” Kageyama sputtered.

“No, I’m deciding what to buy! It might take a while though. Who knows how long I’ll be here? Could be until closing time.” The words left Hinata’s mouth casually but both of them knew he meant business here.

“You dumbass, you can’t do that! Somebody help me with him!” Kageyama’s coworkers explained that, _technically_ , it wasn’t illegal, so Hinata could stay. And, technically, they were probably enjoying the spectacle of their argument too much to kick him out; they were all snickering behind their hands as Kageyama’s face went beet-red from frustration. Hinata smiled smugly and begin to wait them out.

About an hour later, he had to admit this was getting boring. Hinata had expected someone to do something, but the most that happened was Kageyama repeatedly coming over to his table to try and force him to leave. The coffeehouse was pretty quiet and absolutely nothing was happening at all. He’d started looking up old volleyball matches online just to pass the time. Soon enough, Kageyama came over to start yelling again.

“Are you ready to give up or am I gonna have to…what’s that?” Kageyama dropped his yelling tone and almost seemed interested. The wrinkle between his scrunched-up eyebrows had almost disappeared, which was basically a miracle. Hinata had never seen him so content.

“Volleyball, what’s it look like?” Hinata replied. “Why? Do you play?”

Kageyama did his best to look casual. It was a very forced effort, Hinata could tell. “A bit. Back in high school. No big deal,” he answered, hands in his pockets.

Hinata snorted. “Bet you weren’t even that good.”

Kageyama shrugged. “We got to nationals once or twice. Like I said, no big deal.”

“What?! You’re kidding. What position did you play?”

Kageyama sighed like the conversation wasn’t even interesting. The weird glimmer in his eyes said otherwise. “Setter,” he said.

Hinata’s eyes widened. “No way. Toss to me!”

“What? I’m working right now. Besides, we don’t even have a volleyball.”

“Gimme a sec,” Hinata said. He started rummaging through his duffel bag before pulling out a slightly worn but still useable volleyball. “There. Now toss to me.”

“Why do you have a volleyball?” Kageyama asked disbelievingly.

“Why don’t you have a volleyball? Quit stalling and toss to me! Come on, you must get breaks or something.”

Kageyama rolled his eyes but checked his watch. “I guess I can take a break, for a little while. Ten minutes, and only like two tosses, okay?”

“Got it!” Hinata said brightly, following Kageyama out the door. See, when it came to volleyball, Hinata would gladly play with even his worst enemy. Which Kageyama…wasn’t? Not really? Arguing with the guy didn’t necessarily make him an enemy. Hinata was pretty sure he didn’t have any enemies. Not that he knew of, at least. Hmm. That was worrying.

Stepping out into the bright sunlight shook him out of his daze. Kageyama led Hinata over to the side alley next to the shop. He bounced the volleyball a couple times. “Are you ready to start?” he asked.

“Definitely,” Hinata said. He didn’t play often, what with school and all, but if Kageyama was half as good as he made himself out to be, their game would be fun. To start, Kageyama lobbed a soft toss over. Hinata effortlessly spiked it. “That one was too easy!” Hinata complained. “Make it more fun!”

Kageyama narrowed his eyes and tossed a slightly more difficult one, but with the same end result. Finally, he tossed one that was maybe kind of high, and perhaps a bit too fast, just enough so that he probably never thought Hinata could hit it, but, always up for a challenge, Hinata slammed it to the ground with a satisfying thud. “That one was okay,” Hinata said brightly. “You’re pretty good.”

“Same to you,” Kageyama said, the compliment sounding almost reluctant. “But I bet you’ll never hit this one.” He threw a fast toss, higher than he would have thought someone of Hinata’s height could jump. Kageyama fully expected Hinata to swing and miss completely, but his partner managed to side-sweep it. Not actually hit it, but he was only a little bit off center. The ball ricocheted off the walls of the alley and rolled to a stop in front of Hinata. He picked it up and stared at Kageyama.

“Do that one again. I almost had it,” he said, throwing the ball back to Kageyama.

“Got it,” Kageyama replied. The ten minutes stretched to thirty before they could get that spike right. But it was powerful and almost perfectly tailored to both of their abilities. Eventually, Kageyama got called back inside and by that point, both of them were freezing. Something seemed a bit different between the two of them. It was easier to talk and conversations didn’t feel hostile. Hinata almost thought they had become friends. That’d be a bit unbelievable, considering their taunts and dislike from before, but it was a nice thought.

“Hey,” Kageyama said, after they’d warmed up inside the store. Hinata was preparing to go. “We still won’t have your stupid drink tomorrow, but I might be able to take another break. And I get out of work at six.”

“Are you saying you want to play again?” Hinata asked.

“No! Maybe. I don’t really care,” Kageyama grumbled.

“There’s no need to be so grumpy. Beside, maybe I’ll find another drink I like.” Hinata pulled his hat over his head and started towards the door. “Don’t think that I’ll go away so easily. I’ll be back again, same as always.” With that, Hinata left. He was almost too excited about this. He couldn’t believe that idiot was so good at volleyball. It was almost like having a teammate again, or maybe a partner? Partner was probably the best word.

Or maybe a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> volleyball is always the right thing to do, what do you mean it's winter


	3. On the path by the sunflowers

“Hey, Kageyama? What would you think about playing in a game?” Hinata asked.

It was early spring when Hinata posed this question. The two were in the alley next to the coffee shop, doing their daily volleyball practice. It was a pretty sudden question, though it wasn’t like Kageyama was against playing in matches, exactly. It was just that he hadn’t had a real team since high school, and that really hadn’t ended well. “Why do you ask?” Kageyama replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Because I play with some friends sometimes and our other setter got hurt, so we can’t play,” Hinata said. So that was it. Kageyama had no idea Hinata had a team; that level of organization didn’t seem typical for him. He figured Hinata just looked around for anyone who played without thinking enough to get a group.

“When did you get a team together? I didn’t know our school had anyone else who played,” Kageyama said. Not that he’d looked too hard. There had always been an excuse to avoid playing in college, though most of his defenses were pretty flimsy, because at the heart of it he missed volleyball deeply. It’d been his passion as a kid, but somewhere along the way the spark had simply…vanished. And then he’d left his hometown far behind and never re-involved himself in sports, too preoccupied with studies and work.

“Well, my roommate plays, and he’s friends with this guy, who knows some other guys, and we all just started playing together, but we usually have two teams, and the setter for the other side sprained his ankle, so he’s not allowed to play sports for a while, so could you please help us out?” Hinata ended his nervous rant of a monologue and took a deep breath, because, like the idiot he was, he had tried to get everything out in one gulp of air. Kageyama noticed Hinata’s fingers drumming on the volleyball’s surface almost frantically. Weirdo.

No matter how weird Hinata was, though, the offer was certainly appealing. Besides, it was only one casual pick-up game, no big commitment, no big deal. Just a way to spend the day. He supposed this meant he and Hinata were friends now, so why shouldn’t he do Hinata a favor and fill in for their missing setter? Maybe it’d even be fun.

Maybe. Kageyama shrugged. “Alright. When?”

“Huh?” Hinata asked, as if he hadn’t heard properly.

“When do you guys play? I could probably take time off or something,” Kageyama said.

“Oh! I…didn’t actually expect you’d agree,” Hinata said with a sheepish sort of laugh. God, why did he always act so bizarre? This wasn’t that big of a deal. “We wanted to try and get together on Saturday?”

“Sure. I should be free that day.”

“Really? Great! I’ll tell everyone!” Hinata exclaimed. “Here, I’ll give you instructions for the place we usually go. Give me your phone.” Kageyama pulled out his phone and Hinata punched in the address of what Kageyama supposed was a park. “Also, I’m putting my number in, just in case you get lost or something.”

“I wouldn’t get lost!” Kageyama barked, indignant.

“Are you sure?” Hinata laughed. It was difficult to stay annoyed for long; he looked so happy that Kageyama almost smiled himself. “Anyway, we usually start around noon, so don’t be too late! I gotta go, but I’ll see you then!”

“Okay,” Kageyama said, turning back around to finish his shift. But before he could leave Hinata came running back over.

“I almost forgot!” he said. “Here, enter your number in. I’ll text you if you try to blow us off.” He handed Kageyama his phone and looked at him expectantly.

Kageyama scoffed. “I’m not going to skip, dumbass. I said I’d go, didn’t I?” He finished entering his number and handed the phone back.

“Good. Thanks a ton, by the way! You’re a lifesaver!” Hinata said, walking backwards as he waved goodbye. He was laughing a little again and Kageyama had never realized before how nice Hinata looked when he was smiling. Probably because that moron was always smiling, but still. Hinata was almost…cute. What? No, Hinata wasn’t cute. He was many things, but he was not cute. He was annoying, and a good spiker, and maybe a friend, but he was, for sure, one hundred percent, not cute. Shaking his head, Kageyama headed back inside to finish work for the day.

 

Saturday rolled around quicker than Kageyama expected, and soon he found himself squinting at the address on his phone and swearing under his breath, earning glares from parents leading their children through the park. “ _Goddammit_ ,” he hissed, wishing the letters on the screen would magically turn into more precise directions.

Despite what he’d told Hinata, Kageyama had a bit of a tendency to get lost. A bit. Or maybe a lot. It was unclear. To be fair, Hinata hadn’t told him _exactly_ where they would be playing and the park turned out to be pretty big, so it definitely was Hinata’s fault more than Kageyama’s. He’d been pointlessly wandering around like a disheveled hobo for the better part of an hour and he had no fucking clue how he hadn’t found the volleyball courts by now. He had considered calling Hinata, but that would be embarrassing. Doing useless circuits around a public park was much preferable. Okay, he was back where he started now. He could do another loop, or he could just call Hinata already.

Before he could make a decision, his phone buzzed. Hinata had texted him with a message in full capital letters – “HEY LOSER YOU’RE LATE!!!!” Kageyama admitted defeat, but only because he didn’t want to wander around the stupid park anymore.

“Hello? Kageyama? Where are you? It’s way past noon!” Hinata exclaimed as soon as Kageyama called.

Kageyama winced and prepared himself for whatever asinine comment Hinata was going to make. “I got lost,” Kageyama muttered.

“What? Speak up, I can’t hear you!”

“I said I got lost, alright?” Kageyama snapped heatedly.

“You got lost?” Hinata sounded like he was holding back laughter. Kageyama grit his teeth. “I gave you directions, didn’t I?”

“Well, the park is big! You weren’t specific enough!” Kageyama griped, feeling the back of his neck go hot.

“Okay, okay, I’ll walk you through it. Where are you now?”

“Uh…” Kageyama looked around, not having the slightest idea where he was. “I’m by a really big tree.”

“Kageyama, we’re in a park.”

“Oh. Yeah, hold on a minute.” Kageyama hurriedly swiveled his head and tried to look for a landmark. “Okay, I’m near a bunch of flowers. They’re really tall and yellow.”

“Sunflowers?”

“I guess?”

“Do you not know what sunflowers are?” Hinata asked, and, yeah, there was no doubt about it now, he was definitely only barely restraining his laughter.

“Am I a fucking gardener, Hinata?!”

“Okay, alright, calm down! You’re pretty close, I think. There should be a path close by. Go along that until you see a pond, then go right toward the bike lane, and keep going until you get to the street. Then go right again until you get to the basketball court. The volleyball court is right nearby.”

The directions were already blurring in Kageyama’s mind. “Uh. Sure, I heard you, I know what you said. But go through it again. Slower,” Kageyama requested. He heard a peal of laughter and Hinata trying to shush what sounded like at least four people. “Wait, am I on speakerphone?”

“Nah,” some voice he didn’t recognize called.

“Hinata, you asshole!” Kageyama yelled.

“Sorry, but won’t it be easier to get over here with more people helping?” Hinata laughed.

“Shut up, I know what you’re doing. Do you want a setter or not?”

“Aright, go along the path.”

Kageyama looked around, and, lo and behold, there was a path, half hidden by plants. He jogged along it until he came to a small pond. “I’m at the pond, I think. What’s next?”

“Go right to the bike road,” a new voice said. “Keep going until you reach the street.”

Kageyama obliged and passed the bike lane. He quickly got to the street. “And then?”

“Go right to the basketball court and you’ll probably see us,” Hinata said.

“Got it,” Kageyama said. “I’ll be there soon.” He ended the call and walked fast to the basketball court. Surprisingly, or not so much, Kageyama hadn’t been that far away. Just his luck that he had to go to Hinata for advice. At least he’d be able to play today. Before long, he saw a group of people waving from the volleyball court. Hinata was standing in the center and jumping high to get his attention. Kageyama’s heart felt like it was going a little too fast, but he had been running over, so that wasn’t too unusual. Probably.

“Kageyama! You finally made it!” Hinata called when he finally arrived.

“Shut up. I wasn’t even that far away,” Kageyama grumbled.

“Still, you’re pretty late,” Hinata teased, grinning ear to ear.

“So, this is your setter friend?” asked one of the group who had gathered around while Kageyama was distracted.

“Yeah! Kageyama, I’ll introduce everyone. Everyone, this is Kageyama. He’s a really good setter! I met him at that coffeeshop near campus, the Crow’s Nest? Okay, so that’s my roommate Kenma. He’s the other setter.” Hinata indicated a small guy who was lazily scrolling something on his phone. He lifted his gaze for exactly one second, inclined his head slightly in greeting, and returned to the screen. “That’s Lev. He’s a middle blocker like me.” That one was a very tall guy with light hair who was grinning. “Next to Kenma is Kuroo.” A guy with messy dark hair and a smug-looking smirk. “And the last one is Bokuto.” He had weirdly high eyebrows and a grin to match Hinata’s. “Should we divide up the teams now?”

“Sure. Rock paper scissors?” said the messy haired guy - Kuroo? Yeah. That was it.

“Alright!” Hinata threw rock, but the other guy threw paper. “You get to pick first then.”

“I’ll pick Kenma.”

“Then I get Kageyama!” Hinata yanked him over to his side of the court and Kageyama’s heart was doing that weird fast thing again, even though he had been standing still for a couple minutes already. Maybe he was dying?

“I’ll have Bokuto,” the other guy said. “And you take Lev. We’ll serve first.”

“Got it,” Hinata said, suddenly looking very serious about a casual game. But then again, Kageyama was feeling pretty fired up too. He banished thoughts of racing heartbeats and instead felt himself slipping back into competitive focus. It’d been ages since he’d played, sure, but he hadn’t forgotten a thing. “Kageyama, let’s start with the fast toss. If we get the first point, we might get an advantage.”

“Okay,” Kageyama replied. The guys on the other team looked like good players, but Kageyama was confident about his tossing.

“But one last thing. Don’t send that toss to Lev,” Hinata said.

“What? I bet I could hit it!” Lev argued.

“No way, his toss is too good,” Hinata retorted. Kageyama was startled. People never usually said his toss was good. Mostly they said it was too fast. Or too wild. Or too violent. Or all three. Usually all three.

“Are you guys ready to start?” Eyebrows Guy called. Yeah, he wasn’t gonna remember anyone’s names. Whatever. That Guy was preparing to serve.

“Bring it on! We can definitely beat you now!” Hinata yelled, running to his spot on the left of Kageyama.

“Alright! Let’s start. First one to twenty points wins!” With that, Eyebrows Guy slammed the ball directly over Kageyama’s head. It had already hit the floor when Kageyama realized it was behind him. “First point!” Jesus. Some casual pickup game this was.

“We’ll stop the next one!” Hinata insisted, undeterred. Their setter was serving next. His got over the net, but Lev managed to stop it.

“Over here!” Hinata called. He was already in the air when Kageyama tossed the ball, but it found Hinata’s hand perfectly. It hit the center of the other side with a heavy thud that stopped the others in their tracks. The other team hadn’t had the smallest chance to cover it. “Alright! We’ll win!” Hinata held up his hand for a high-five.

“Yeah!” Kageyama said, slamming his hand against Hinata’s. His heart was beating fast and he thought he was smiling, and he really shouldn’t be this flustered, they hadn’t been playing long, but who cares, Hinata was smiling happily and Kageyama was almost stunned by the warmth. Unfortunately, their luck ran out after that. They managed to score a couple more times with their quick strike, but the guys on the other team were playing strategically and were far better at receiving the ball. In the end, Kageyama’s team lost by almost ten points.

“That was a pretty good match! We almost had them!” Hinata said after chugging about half a bottle of water.

“What? Not really,” Kageyama grumbled. He was a bit disappointed, but surprisingly, the match had been fun. He and Hinata worked together pretty well and Lev was useful as a blocker. Maybe if they had more experience or worked together more often, they’d have a better chance.

“Well, whenever me and Lev are on a team together, it’s pretty hard to win. But with you, we got way closer!”

“Shut up,” Kageyama muttered, feeling his face heat up. Hinata was still smiling, despite the loss. Instead of being annoying though, Kageyama found it almost…endearing? Which was weird. Kageyama hated losing and figured he’d be more upset, but with Hinata grinning and chattering beside him, Kageyama felt completely at ease. Hinata really was pretty cute. Even after sweating for a good part of an hour, his hair was still fluffy and soft looking. Kageyama almost wanted to flatten it down just to see what it would look like. Wait, no, that would creepy. So was thinking Hinata was cute. Kageyama shoved all thoughts like that out of his head as fast as possible.

“We still have time for another match!” Hinata yelled to the other team. “This time, we’ll win for sure!”

“Ohoh? We’ll take you up on that,” the messy haired guy said. “Same teams?”

“Of course! Kageyama, get up. We have a match to win!”

“Yeah!” Kageyama said, rushing to his feet and racing Hinata back to the court.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know how sometimes you can see the exact moment someone falls in love?


	4. Feelings are weird and my roommate isn’t helping much

Hinata couldn’t believe it was summer already. Time passes quickly when you meet someone who becomes really important to you and you guys have fun together and it’s all great and happy and Hinata was getting the feeling that he liked Kageyama in more than a strictly platonic way.

Whenever Kageyama looked his way recently, or maybe not so recently, he got this warm soft feeling in his chest. It was weird, sort of like his heart was melting, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. In fact, he wanted it to happen over and over again. It happened especially when Kageyama smiled just a little, because most of the time you could swear he had never learned how to make a nice face, but then…he would smile. And it was more special than anything Hinata had ever seen.

Maybe it was incredibly platonic. That’s all. As in, he was just super friendly with Kageyama? He definitely loved spending time with Kageyama, no matter what they were doing. Sometimes they just watched old matches online, arguing about whose fault it was when the videos went out-of-synch, or talked, half of their back-and-forth texts told in capslock and dumb emojis. But he had to admit, playing volleyball with him was the most fun. They worked together so well, sometimes Hinata almost forgot they hadn’t been doing this forever.

Sometimes, Kageyama would mention his old team, which was only a little painful. Hinata really wished he could have played them back then. Actually, he was pretty glad to have met Kageyama like this. If they had met on opposite sides of the court, Hinata had a sneaking suspicion that they would have been more rivals than friends. But that didn’t matter now; he had real problems. Suddenly, with all these weird feelings, Hinata felt almost awkward around Kageyama. It was weird, because usually he felt so comfortable, like Kageyama was with someone he’d spent his entire life with. But then he would do something insufferably cute and Hinata would get all flustered. If, and this was a big if, Hinata actually had a crush, he wouldn’t even know what to do about it. He’d never had any real crushes before. Sure, he’d seen cute people, but he never had any real urge to date or anything. He wasn’t even sure what love felt like.

He decided to ask his roommate, who was a highly trusted friend. And even though Kenma was never one to speak a lot, what he did say was usually right.

“Kenma? Can I ask you a question?” Hinata was sitting across from his roommate in an old squishy chair, while Kenma sat curled up on the couch with a game console.

“Sure,” Kenma said, not even looking up from the screen. But that was normal for him and Hinata knew he had Kenma’s full attention. Mostly full, at least.

“Well, I kinda have this…problem,” Hinata started awkwardly. He started fidgeting where he sat; it was much harder to talk about this to another person.

“Uh-huh,” Kenma said, prompting him to continue. Even though he was still splitting his attention between Hinata and the flashing enemies on-screen.

“I think I might have a really huge crush on this guy I know,” Hinata said in one breath, as fast as possible.

Kenma finally looked up, but the sudden pronouncement didn’t seem to faze him much. “Who?”

“One of the baristas at the coffee shop down the street, you know, the Crow’s Nest? The mean-looking one with dark hair.” Even though lately Hinata hadn’t really been thinking Kageyama was too mean-looking, not since getting to know him.

“Oh. The one who was setter in some of our games, I guess,” Kenma replied. He finally closed the console and placed it carefully on the couch before staring intently at Hinata. “Go on.”

“What?”

“This sounds important, so I’m listening.”

“Oh. Okay,” Hinata said. Kenma rarely put down his game after starting, so he might as well tell the whole story. Once he started the words just tumbled out of his mouth in a rush, barely even stopping for breath.

“Well, I met him about a year ago. I wanted something warm to drink, so I ordered a pumpkin spice latte, and yes, this is important, because he got all pissy about it, so I decided to come back every day and order one ‘cause he acted really mad about it, you know, to bother him, it was really funny even though he’s a total ass. And after few weeks, they stopped selling them, but, y’know, he wasn’t so bad a person, not really, and the shop was nice, so I said I’d wait around until they gave me the latte, and I waited for like an hour, and he came over and he saw me look up some stuff about volleyball and since I had one with me, a volleyball I mean, we started playing and he’s a really great setter! You know that, he’s an amazing setter, and we kept doing this for a year and now I think I might have a crush on him or maybe not because I don’t even know how crushes work and I’m all uncomfortable about this and now you’re giving me a really weird look, _what_?”

Kenma had this look on his face that suggested Hinata was overlooking something really important but said nothing. “Kenma! Why are you looking at me so weirdly?” Hinata demanded, more indignant this time.

“Is this why you always ask me for money? For lattes?” Kenma asked, one eyebrow raised. “You really need a job, Shouyo.”

“Okay, yeah, but that’s not the point! What should I do about this stupid guy?” Hinata asked, his voice ascending into a frustrated whine.

Kenma furrowed his brow. “If you like him, why don’t you just ask him out?”

Hinata groaned and shoved his face in his hands. “It’s not that easy!” he shouted, slightly muffled.

“Why not?”

“Because! What if he doesn’t like me back?”

Kenma shrugged. “Then he doesn’t like you and you don’t go out.”

“But I want to go out with him!”

“Yeah, I know. You just told me. But you won’t go anywhere unless you ask him out.”

“What if he asks me? That’d be fine,” Hinata said, deep in thought.

“If we knew if he liked you, we wouldn’t have a problem,” Kenma reminded him.

“Oh. Yeah. I…guess you’re right.” Hinata kept thinking, but his thoughts just went around in circles without ever getting anywhere. The only thing he could think of was that one of them was going to have to start this. And it probably wasn’t going to be Kageyama. “Kenma. I decided,” Hinata declared.

“What?” Kenma was already back to his game.

“I’m going to tell him.”

“That’s good, you should do that,” was the distracted reply.

“I’m going right now!” Hinata yelled, jumping up from his seat and grabbing his coat. “I’ll be back later.”

“Wait,” Kenma said. “Doesn’t that place close at six?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s eight.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Hinata almost deflated. He could feel a pout coming on, though he knew that was pretty childish. “You know,” Kenma started, once again invested in his game. “You don’t have to tell him right away. You could just wait, I guess. If you’re really that nervous.”

“I know,” Hinata groaned. “I just feel like I won’t be able to tell him if I wait.”

"Then wait until the time is right. If you like him that much, it’s pretty important. So it makes sense that you would want to plan it out. Probably.”

“Oh,” Hinata said. See, this was why he went to Kenma for advice. Despite always following up his recommendations with “I guess” or “maybe,” he was usually a big help. “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. How long do you think I have to wait?”

“I don’t know,” Kenma replied. “He doesn’t seem that observant, except in games. So a while, maybe.”

“Yeah, he’s kinda dumb,” Hinata giggled. He felt more relaxed now that he had a plan of action.

“Is that everything?” Kenma asked, eyes raised as his fingers hovered over the buttons. “Can I get back to this level now?”

“Yeah, I’m done.” Hinata walked back over to his seat and switched on the TV.

“Shouyo?”

“Yeah?” Kenma’s eyes were rooted to the flashing screen, but his words were warm and sincere. “Good luck with…all this.”

“Definitely!” Hinata was going to say it. Not now, or anytime soon, probably, but he would say it for sure. He just hoped Kageyama wouldn’t be upset when he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kenma is the general manager at the local gamestop. he's somehow managed to hire the rest of the nekoma team and it's a beautiful disaster.


	5. Oh no, I think I love him

Somehow, a year passed pretty quickly. Kageyama almost couldn’t believe it was September again, except for the fact that he could remember almost every detail from the past however many months. Mostly because that dumbass was the main part of it.

Actually, Kageyama wasn’t really annoyed by him so much anymore. He guessed it was because Hinata was a really good spiker and they played well together. Only that. Nothing else. Not the way his eyes lit up when he managed to hit a new kind of toss. Not his fluffy hair that never lay flat and looked so damn soft that sometimes, Kageyama would almost reach out to feel it. Not that little bit of stomach that showed when his t-shirt pulled up. Definitely not his smile that absolutely lit up his face and almost made Kageyama himself smile from just how damn cute it was.

Except it was. It was all those things, and about a million more things that were so stupidly endearing about Hinata. He made Kageyama want to reach out and hold his hand, or hug him, or just be near him. He supposed this was a crush? Honestly, Kageyama had very little experience with this type of thing. He had always been too focused on volleyball to even consider dating or romance, and now he regretted it. How do you tell someone you liked them? What’s the protocol on stuff like this?

While he was brooding, his coworker, Nishinoya, walked over. “Hey, Kageyama, you don’t look so good,” Noya commented. This was the problem with having a shift with him. Noya was talkative and dangerously observant. He also hated being kept out of the loop on anything, even the most trivial matters. He liked staying connected to absolutely everything that went on with his coworkers, in or out of the coffeehouse.

“Now that you mention it, he looks kinda sick,” Tanaka agreed; he was a friend of Noya’s who liked to hover around whenever Noya was on duty, and often assisted in Noya’s quests to learn everything about everybody in the most invasive way possible.

“Right? Like, constipated. What’s going on?”

Kageyama sighed, rolling his eyes. He supposed he was being pretty obvious, of course Noya would have noticed. This whole Hinata thing was a dead end right now, but if Noya wanted to help…why not let him? Maybe Kageyama could be subtle about it. Yeah. How hard could it be? “Noya, what do you know about crushes?” he asked carefully, suppressing the flush that was creeping onto his face. Talking about Hinata had that effect on him. It was fucking insufferable.

“A-ha! I knew it! You came to the right man,” Noya said, clapping a hand on Kageyama’s shoulder, despite being almost a foot shorter. “Me and Ryu here, we know everything there is to know about romance. So tell us all about it.” Noya seated himself up on the counter next to Kageyama’s register, Tanaka standing nearby, and waited to be filled in on whatever gossip Kageyama was about to provide.

He took a deep breath. “I’m not sure if it’s a crush, but my head feels all light and my chest hurts whenever I see them. And I want to be near them all the time. And everything they do, no matter how stupid, seems cute to me. Is that a crush?”

Noya and Tanaka looked at each other and both clapped a hand on Kageyama’s shoulders. Why did they keep doing that? They were gonna pop his shoulders out of the sockets at this rate. Then he couldn’t play volleyball with Hinata, which would be unacceptable. He pulled away from their hands, scowling.

“He’s this far gone and he doesn’t even realize,” Tanaka said, shaking his head.

“It’s a real shame, Ryu,” Noya replied, grinning. “It sounds like a pretty serious crush.”

“That’s impossible,” Kageyama interjected.

“Oh? Why’s that?” Noya asked.

“Because the first time I met Hi—them…” Kageyama caught himself just in time. The recovery was basically seamless. “…I hated them. How could I possibly like them now?”

Noya sighed wistfully. “There’s a fine line between love and hate, my friend. You’ll learn when you’re older.”

“Aren’t you only a year older than me?” Kageyama asked suspiciously, but neither was listening anymore. They were busy trying to guess who Kageyama’s crush was.

“He has no social life outside work, so he must have met them here,” Noya was saying.

“Isn’t there that short blonde girl who comes in sometimes?” Tanaka asked.

“Yachi? No way, impossible, he couldn’t have hated her in the beginning. Besides, she doesn’t seem his type.”

“My _type_?” Kageyama interrupted. He didn’t even know he had a type.

“It couldn’t be Kiyoko, could it?!” Tanaka yelped.

“Kageyama, your crush isn’t Kiyoko, right? She’s off limits!” Noya cried.

“No! And I thought you were dating someone anyway, Noya!” Kageyama said hurriedly. In fact, he was positive of this fact, considering Noya barely ever shut up about the guy when he wasn’t wheedling gossip out of everybody.

“Of course I am,” Noya said. “But Kiyoko’s too good for anyone and everyone. She’s a goddess. Though he couldn’t have hated her anyway. So, who else could it be?”

“What about that girl with the short hair? The older one? She likes sports, right?” Tanaka said.

“Maybe,” Nishinoya mused. “Is he into older girls, do you think? Kageyama, is your type older women?”

“I don’t know!” Kageyama burst out. “I don’t even think I have a type!”

Noya laughed. “Hey, Ryu, maybe he’s into your sister!” he teased, jabbing Tanaka in the ribs as he spoke. Tanaka looked livid.

“I haven’t even _met_ his sister!” Kageyama retorted.

“She’s hot as hell,” Noya informed him.

“Shut up about my sister, you freaks!” Tanaka shouted.

“Are you saying she’s _not_ hot as hell?”

“Of course she is, our family is renowned for their good looks.”

“Okay, so—”

“No! He’s like twelve, he can’t date my sister.”

“I’m only a year younger than you assholes!” Kageyama reminded them heatedly. He was fuming. This had been such a bad idea and the nightmare showed no signs of stopping. What the fuck was even going on anymore?

Noya made a loud dismissive noise. “Fine, whatever. Okay, so, maybe it could be…” They started weighting each girl against what they thought Kageyama’s type would be, whatever the hell that meant, and it was basically torture. Kageyama just wanted this shift to end as soon as possible, hopefully without anybody coming in.

Unfortunately, it looked like he was cursed today. Just as he started slamming his head down on the register repeatedly to try to block out the lively conversation, Hinata threw the door open and called out to him. Kageyama’s head shot up when he heard Hinata’s voice. It wasn’t cold enough yet to wear hats and scarves, but Hinata was wearing a hoodie that was probably two sizes too big, making him look smaller than usual. Kageyama found it inexplicably adorable. This was so stupid, he was just wearing a poorly-sized hoodie, this wasn’t fucking _cute._

“We still don’t have pumpkin spice,” Kageyama mumbled. He felt kind of awkward talking to Hinata now, given what Noya had said about him being in love. He wasn’t. Probably? Nothing was making sense. Also his head kind of hurt from hitting it on the register. Maybe that hadn’t been the best idea.

“You guys are so slow! I heard the place down the street has them,” Hinata whined, pouting. Oh god, he really was cute, would it be weird to hug him? Yeah, definitely. Definitely weird. Every thought that passed his head sounded weird all of a sudden.

“Then go there instead, idiot!” Kageyama snapped.

“Nah, it probably wouldn’t be as good. What do you have?” Hinata asked, unfazed by Kageyama’s usual poor attitude.

“Dumbass, you’re supposed to tell me what you want. Don’t you know how anything works?”

Hinata shrugged. “Just give me something good. You’d probably know better than me, considering you work here.” He always did this, asked for random crap instead of ordering like a normal person. Kageyama was more than used to it, but he still felt the need to berate Hinata about it.

“I don’t know what you like besides shitty seasonal lattes,” Kageyama retorted. This was a lie. He had a semi-creepy habit of remembering Hinata’s daily orders, even as he jumped between different flavors. Despite this Kageyama had a pretty good idea of what Hinata’s taste was like. For example, Hinata loved anything sugary, the sweeter the better; Kageyama knew that for a fact. Abruptly knowing that seemed strange. He barely remembered the names of his other customers, much less their orders.

“I’ll try anything once!” Hinata replied.

“Fine. As long as you don’t whine about it.” Kageyama walked back to the coffee machine, set a little away from the counter to avoid a mess. He was grateful that he wouldn’t have to keep looking at Hinata. Whenever he looked for too long, his heart started beating faster than was probably healthy.

“ _So_ ,” said a voice from behind him. Kageyama whipped his head around and saw Noya leaning against the coffee machine with a horrible grin on his face. Oh no. “I didn’t think of Shouyo, but now that I do, you guys would be pretty good together.”

“I don’t…what are you talking about?” Kageyama stammered, trying and failing to sound casual. He could feel his face heating up.

“Shouyo. Hinata. You like him, right?” Noya said, pointing over to where Hinata was chatting animatedly with Tanaka.

“Don’t point!” Kageyama said, with an extremely conspicuous note of panic in his voice.

“Man, that’s a bit surprising, I would have thought you like the quiet ones! But I guess you never know until you know.”

“Please stop talking,” Kageyama pleaded.

“Alright, alright! Your secret’s safe with me and Ryu,” Noya said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I won’t say anything. Even though I think you have a decent chance.”

“Thank you,” Kageyama mumbled. “I guess.”

“But you should know that that cup’s about to overflow,” Noya commented as he walked back over to the counter, muffling laughter behind his hands. Kageyama gave a start and turned off the machine just before it spilled, but he forgot to put in flavorings so he had to start over anyway. It took twice as long as usual to make a drink for Hinata, too distracted mulling over what Noya said. It was ridiculous, he decided, completely ridiculous. He couldn’t actually have a chance, could he? No, of course not.

His eyes settled on Hinata’s name scribbled on the cup and felt an odd, heavy pang in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did kageyama honestly expect good romantic advice from noya and tanaka? they're probably the worst people to ask.


	6. How does romance even work?

The days passed and with no answers and only useless advice on his side, Kageyama’s interactions with Hinata became increasingly stressful.

“I’ll see you later! Thanks for the coffee!” Hinata shouted before running out the door one afternoon.

“Yeah, bye,” Kageyama mumbled, still staring off in the direction Hinata went. His chest was tight and his face still felt way too warm to be normal. Goddammit. This was going nowhere.

Kageyama had never been more confused in his life, which was really saying a lot. Since realizing - or maybe being forced to realize - his feelings for Hinata, nothing made sense. His heart kept seizing up when he thought about him too much. Any time he hung out with Hinata, he had to keep looking away or make sure they didn’t accidentally touch, because Kageyama was sure he would explode if they did. Sometimes he managed to get comfortable around him, only to get that weird swooping feeling in his stomach and feel the flush creep up his cheeks. The whole thing was weird and gross and he wanted no part of it.

But there was no time to worry about that now. Today was his dreaded double shift, from the morning til closing time, and he was only about to start the second. This day was going on forever, and now that Hinata had been in and out there was nothing left to look forward to. Hinata had looked especially nice today, just to spite him, probably, lurid orange hair curling around his cheeks and his usual grin lighting up his whole face. It was insufferable. It was adorable. God, why.

Kageyama was still lost in thought when Noya threw a balled-up apron right at him, forcing him out of his own head.

“Stop moping already, we all get that you’re so totally in love and it’s all _tragic_ ,” Noya teased, rolling his eyes.

“I’m not moping!” This was a blatant lie, and Kageyama knew it. He could practically feel he wrinkle between his eyebrows deepening by the second.

“You obviously are, why are you lying?” Noya sighed. “Look, just take my advice already and ask him out!”

Kageyama scowled and stuffed the apron behind the counter for a distraction, even though he knew Suga was going to lecture him about having an untidy workstation. But he was extremely preoccupied trying to ignore Noya as best he could. Noya, however, didn’t seem to plan on stopping anytime soon. This hell was endless.

“It doesn’t even matter if he says no, not really. You have to take what life throws at you, you know? Roll with the punches. Romance isn’t even that big a deal anyw—” Noya was interrupted by the jingling of the bell over the shop’s door, announcing his shift replacement. The Crow’s Nest had hired the new guy, Yamaguchi, earlier in the summer and Kageyama hadn’t talked to him much. He knew the guy was tall, nervous, and had messy hair, and that was about it. “And here’s Yamaguchi, so I’m leaving. We’ll talk about your trainwreck of a love life some other time, Kageyama!”

With that, Noya went to the staff room to clock out. Yamaguchi nodded a hello to Kageyama and followed Noya to get his apron. Oh, wait, maybe Noya meant for Kageyama to give that other apron to Yamaguchi? Whatever. It was too late now, the apron was already wedged between the counters.

Unfortunately, Kageyama didn’t even get a chance to get his bearings, because as soon as he was alone, a tall guy walked in, looking very confused and possibly lost. It was just Kageyama’s luck to have to deal with a customer right now.

“Can I help you?” Kageyama said blandly.

The guy looked around before speaking. “Hi? Uh, I’m looking for a friend. Well, not quite a friend, more like--"

_“Babe!”_

Kageyama was pretty sure it was Noya shouting, but he wasn’t sure, since he was too startled by Noya himself vaulting over the counter and leaping onto the tall guy.

Suga came running out of the back room. “Noya, you have to finish clocking out! Asahi, what are you doing just standing there? Bring him back!”

Kageyama assumed this had to be Noya’s long-talked-about boyfriend and he observed them with one eyebrow raised quizzically. He’d never actually met the guy before, and all he could think about was how Noya looked even shorter in comparison to him. Jeez.

“Why are you blaming me?” Asahi groaned. “Noya, you can’t keep jumping on me like that. You’re too heavy for me to keep carrying.” Despite his complaints, Kageyama couldn’t help but notice Asahi showed no signs of letting go any time soon.

“Are you saying I’m fat? Wow, rude,” Noya scoffed.

“No! It’s just that my back feels like it’s going to give out any second and then I’d drop you.”

“When did I start dating an old man? Come on, you’re young, you can carry me back to the staff room! Go! Go! Go!” Asahi sighed as though this was normal and unavoidable, which Kageyama found a bit weird, unless this was something all couples did. If that was the case, then he really wasn’t sure that romance was about. Asahi returned a minute later, with Noya transferred to his back.

“Okay, we’re leaving. Yamaguchi, good luck!” Noya shouted. He pointed out the door. “Keep going, I believe in you, babe!”

“This isn’t something believing in will help,” Asahi said, but he still carried Noya out the door and out of sight.

“They’re so close. It’s hard to believe they hadn’t always been dating,” Suga remarked fondly, leaning on the doorframe of the staff room.

Yamaguchi finally returned, straightening his apron as he walked. He commented, “It has been a while though. They got together in Asahi's third year, after all.”

Suga nodded. “They liked each other since the beginning. Anyone could see it.”

“So just like you and Daichi, right?” Yamaguchi said, grinning.

“No, no, that was completely different,” Suga insisted, noticeably blushing. He hurriedly changed the subject. “Anyway, I’ll be leaving soon, so good luck. Yamaguchi, I know this is your first shift without a supervisor, but I’m sure you’ll do fine.” He turned around to leave, but he was interrupted by another person entering the shop. This one was carrying a bunch of flowers which basically obscured his face.

“Anybody by the name of Sugawara here?” the man asked. Suga looked confused, but stepped forward. He took the card hanging from the bouquet and read it quickly. Looking up, he moved the flowers to the side, revealing a dark haired guy, grinning sheepishly, who leaned forward and kissed Suga’s cheek. The guy’s face was flushed red and, from what Kageyama could see, Suga was much the same.

Suga crossed his arms. “Daichi, I told you not to visit me at work,” he chided with a sigh. He took the flowers and placed them down on a nearby table. “You shouldn’t have come by,” he said, burying his face in the guy’s chest and laughing softly. Kageyama figured he must be Suga’s boyfriend, who Noya had mentioned as being, quote, “disgustingly married” to Suga. Why was everyone dragging their love lives into the shop today? Were they trying to rub it in Kageyama’s face? He could feel his mood souring more and more as the minutes dragged on.

“I wanted to try doing something romantic,” Daichi said, placing his head on top of Suga’s.

“You don’t have to try, you’re such a big sap already,” Suga murmured. “And besides, you do this _all_ the time, quit spoiling me.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m sorry,” Daichi said. Suga didn’t respond. “Suga…” Still nothing. _Was Suga actually mad?_ Kageyama thought. He himself wouldn’t mind having someone bring him flowers. He wondered, if he and Hinata were dating, who would give who flowers? Would they both? He thought Hinata would like flowers. He’d probably smile really nicely. Wait no, stop this train of thought, it was making him feel really silly and fluttery inside. That kind of thinking was absolutely not allowed. He wasn’t going to actually confess, so there was no point in wondering. Besides, he was missing what was going on.

“Daichi, you can’t visit me at work. It sets a bad example for them.” Suga pulled his head out from under Daichi’s and pointed over to Kageyama and Yamaguchi, who both looked away as if being lectured by a parent. But his reprimanding didn’t seem to ring true, at least, not that Kageyama could hear.

“So you don’t like them?” Daichi asked, looking crestfallen.

“I never said that,” Suga replied, smiling. Daichi brightened immediately. “Just save this sort of stuff for when we’re by ourselves. Let me go get my stuff, and then we’ll leave, okay?” Suga rushed to the staff room and was back with his jacket before anybody could do more than awkwardly look at each other. “Kageyama, Yamaguchi, just close up after this shift, okay? I’m sure you guys will do fine, there are never a lot of people this time of day.”

With that, Suga took Daichi’s hand, causing them both to turn pink, and picked up the flowers. They waited until they were outside before kissing, but not much longer. Noya had been right, it was almost too much to see them be so affectionate.

Now that they were gone, Kageyama was left alone with Yamaguchi. Neither of them said a word for about five minutes. Nobody else came in either. It was weird and uncomfortable. Kageyama decided to break the silence – after all, he might as well try to make friends with the guy.

“What’s a tacos?” Kageyama asked suddenly. Yamaguchi jumped about two feet into the air and stared back at Kageyama.

“What’s a…what?” he asked, befuddled.

“A tacos,” Kageyama repeated. “The word on your shirt, I saw it when you came in. Is it like an acronym, or a place, or, like, I don’t know, a depraved sex act or something?”

With that last comment, Yamaguchi’s jumped again, but his time, his hand hit the cash register in front of him and the drawer flew into his stomach. _“What?”_ he wheezed. “Excuse me? Did I hear you right?”

“A depraved sex act? So is it?”

“No! Absolutely not! Why would I be wearing it around if that’s what it was?”

Kageyama shrugged. “I don’t know what kind of life you’re living. So what is it?”

“Why do you care so much?” Yamaguchi asked. His face was buried in his hands and his ears were a bright red, so Kageyama assumed he had embarrassed him too much. Well, at least they were talking. That was an improvement. Possibly.

“I just want to know. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?”

“Because I guess you’ve assumed I wear shirts with sexual innuendos on them!”

“I don’t know you! Can you just answer the question already?”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Yamaguchi muttered.

“Oh god, was I right?” Kageyama asked, horrified. “It sounds disgusting enough.”

“No! It’s none of your business!”

“Whatever,” Kageyama sighed. That conversation was probably the worst possible thing to have happened. How were they supposed to work for the rest of the shift with _that_ discussion hanging around? Maybe he could bring up another topic later. Right now, he decided to let Yamaguchi cool off. His face might catch fire if Kageyama said anything else weird. Even though he was still a little bit curious about what the shirt was supposed to mean. Maybe Yamaguchi didn’t even know.

To pass time, Kageyama thought about what had happened earlier. Before everyone’s boyfriends had popped in, Hinata had come by and stayed for longer than usual. Not that Kageyama minded, but it was getting increasingly hard to talk to Hinata for extended periods of time. He was really cute when he smiled, and unfortunately for Kageyama, he smiled every two seconds. He supposed knowing about a crush was only half the battle, or maybe a quarter. He still had no idea how to go about wooing Hinata, or what “wooing” really meant, nor did he want to think about what would happen when he was inevitably rejected, because of course he’d be rejected, Kageyama had just demonstrated he was incapable of having normal conversations.

“What do you know about romance?” Kageyama asked aloud. He forgot, in that moment, that he wasn’t alone and now Yamaguchi looked like he was trying to come up with an answer. Shit. Another awkward conversation was sure to follow.

Or maybe not. Yamaguchi looked intrigued now. “Uh, not all that much really,” he said sheepishly. “I guess I know a little bit, kind of.”

Kageyama had no patience for non-answers like that, he had very serious problems to deal with, and if Yamaguchi could help, he wanted to know. “What do you mean, kind of? Do you know stuff or not?” he asked, squinting.

“I mean, I knew Suga and Daichi and everyone while in high school, so I guess I learned some stuff form them? And from books and movies and stuff.” Yamaguchi shrugged. “You pick up things like that here and there.”

“Books? Like romance novels?” Kageyama questioned, mind full of all the cheap-looking novels he saw nestled in dark corners of bookshops.

Yamaguchi blushed and started twisting his fingers nervously. “Y-yeah. Stuff like that. They’re cheap and they’re actually pretty good.”

If things had been different Kageyama might have made fun of Yamaguchi for that, but this was a special circumstance. “Good? Like, useful?”

“Huh? Oh, I don’t really know, but it usually sounds about right.”

“So can you help me with my problem?”

“If you tell me what the problem is, I can try,” Yamaguchi offered with a tentative smile.

Kageyama took a deep breath. It was more stressful actually talking about it; before, Noya and Tanaka had simply figured it out. Kageyama hadn’t exactly told them and now all the words in his head were colliding into a mess. He started slowly, “Okay, so let’s say, hypothetically, I liked someone. What should I do?”

Yamaguchi looked perplexed. “Uh. Well…it depends on the person. The hypothetical person, of course. There’s not just one answer, everybody’s different, you know?”

This was getting harder and harder. The idea that there wasn’t one foolproof answer was getting him worked up. “Right, so, they’re really weird. And I feel weird around them. And I think I have a crush, because I got some advice from other people, and that’s what they said. But now it’s even more awkward because I can’t pretend I don’t like them anymore. What should I do? In this totally imaginary situation, of course. This is completely fake, okay? Just if anyone asked.”

Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow, like he knew for a fact Kageyama was lying but didn’t want to mention it. “Right. In this hypothetical scenario, I think you should probably try to tell them how you feel.”

“That’s terrible advice,” Kageyama scoffed dismissively, glaring at the floor. Everyone kept telling him to do that but it was bullshit. It would never work.

“No it’s not! Look, you want to date this person, right?” Yamaguchi replied indignantly.

Kageyama exhaled impatiently. “Yes, fine. In this imaginary thing, the imaginary me would probably like to date this imaginary person. Imaginarily.”

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. Kageyama was slowly coming to the conclusion that he had no idea how to be subtle. Why hadn’t anyone ever told him? “Yeah, in this fake situation, the fake you would want to date this fake person,” Yamaguchi concluded shortly.

“Yes, that’s correct. Fake correct.”

“Of course. Very fake,” Yamaguchi scoffed. Kageyama felt his face burning. Was advice supposed to be this harsh? He hadn’t thought this guy had a spine. “But think about this: if you never do anything about it, how would you two ever start dating?”

Kageyama furrowed his brow. “I guess…we wouldn’t.”

“Exactly. So, then what?”

Kageyama wracked his brains. “…Nothing?”

“ _Nothing_. Is that what you want?” Yamaguchi questioned critically, crossing his arms.

Kageyama thought about that. Would he be okay with things staying the way they were? With him being awkward with Hinata and acting like an idiot over the dumbest things? Would he actually want to date Hinata? He imagined what that would be like. Holding hands, hugging, kissing, being around each other a lot without having to make an excuse to see him…all of those things sounded pretty nice. Actually, more than nice. Kageyama would really, really want to do those things with Hinata, all the time, even. “No. No, it’s not,” Kageyama muttered, startling Yamaguchi, who he guessed had left him to think alone.

“What? Did you say something?” Yamaguchi asked, walking back to the counter from where he had been wiping down tables.

“I said, no. I don’t want it to be like this forever.” His voice got surer as he repeated it, feeling more determined now. “I want to date this person. I want to ask them out and date them.”

Yamaguchi stood across from Kageyama and asked, “So what’s stopping you?”

Kageyama looked down at the counter, brow furrowed. “Nothing, I guess.”

“Exactly. Go do it then!” Kageyama looked up and saw Yamaguchi smiling like a proud parent.

“You give pretty good advice,” he admitted.

“Uh? Thanks. It’s just all stuff that people say in books,” Yamaguchi replied, rubbing the back of his neck and laughing uncertainly. “I thought it sounded pretty cheesy. But stuff like that helped when everyone was trying to get together a couple years back.”

“It’s still good. I didn’t expect you to give me serious advice, no one else did.”

“Did you really expect serious advice from, like, Nishinoya?” Yamaguchi snorted, surprising Kageyama.

“Uh. Well. Noya has a boyfriend. He knows how it works,” Kageyama muttered, not even convincing himself.

“Not at all, actually,” Yamaguchi laughed. “From what I remember, he was pretty hopeless. Just pining constantly after Asahi, no matter what anybody said. I’m happy to help though! After all, the best part of a romance story is when the couple gets together. It’s fun to play matchmaker sometimes.”

Matchmaking and fun didn’t seem to co-exist in Kageyama’s head; the whole thing just made him feel dizzy. “Thanks. Really, I mean it,” he said.

“Don’t mention it!”

With that, the conversation ended, but the silence that fell was much more comfortable than before. They chatted a bit, not about anything important, and soon it was time to close up. Though Kageyama felt significantly motivated, he was still unsure about how to proceed. Nonetheless, this advice session was much more useful than the others. Maybe an idea would just come to him. He couldn’t really think of anything else to do, since romantic stuff still made about zero sense, but at least he had gotten some rational advice for once.

And he would definitely start looking for an opportunity to tell Noya he didn’t know shit about romance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yamaguchi successfully grew a spine in high school and now takes nobody's shit i'm very proud of yamaguchi. he also basically got everyone together, while simultaneously being noya's shoulder to cry on when tanaka wasn't available.


	7. The beginning of the end...

“Hey, Kageyama, help out with these boxes a bit!”

Kageyama looked over from where he was stacking cups and saw Suga and Noya both carrying big, heavy-looking boxes.

“What’s in them?” he asked as he took the box from Noya.

“Did you forget? It’s the pumpkin spice for the lattes. Our shipment was a little late, so we’re only just getting it now,” Suga explained. “We’ll start selling them tomorrow. For now, just store them in the back.”

“Geez, I would have thought you’d remember, Kageyama!” Noya grinned. “Since your _boyfriend_ loves them so much.”

“Shut up!” Kageyama yelped, the box almost slipping out of his hands.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were dating anyone. Good for you,” Suga said kindly.

“I’m not!” Kageyama protested.

“Nah, he just has a huge crush on this guy who comes in the store every day,” Noya snickered. “Are you ever actually going to ask him out, Kageyama?”

“No! Maybe. Probably not…” Kageyama mumbled.

“I don’t know why you haven’t, he’ll probably say yes,” Noya sighed.

“Alright, stop teasing him,” Suga intervened. “It’s almost time to open, so get ready.”

“Noya?” Kageyama asked as they put on their aprons and readied the coffee for the day. “If I were to ask him out…how would I do it?” As surprisingly helpful as Yamaguchi had been, he wasn’t here now and Kageyama still didn’t have a game plan, so to speak, and he had to at least _try_.

“Ohhh, you really want to!” Noya exclaimed. Kageyama wished he would be quieter, he didn’t want his secret - was it even that much of a secret anymore? - to be shouted all around. “Listen, Kageyama, to ask someone out, you have to be dramatic! Something with a pop, or a spark! Something that’ll really knock his socks off!” Noya made this declaration as dramatically as possible, almost upsetting one of the coffeepots in the process.

“Okay, what would that be?”

Noya squinted at him. “I don’t know, you’re the one who wants to ask him out. What does he like?”

“Volleyball,” Kageyama answered immediately. “What if I wrote it on a volleyball and threw it at him?”

“No, don’t do that,” Noya said quickly. “Are you trying to kill him or something? That’s probably going to end up with him in the hospital. Not romantic at all. But I feel for you, I really do. It took me ages to figure out the perfect way to ask Asahi out.”

Suga was passing by with another stack of pumpkin spice boxes and cut in, “Oh, I remember! Didn’t you ask him to prom as a ‘joke’ but then you guys actually went to prom together and you got him flowers and everything? It was cute.”

“Suga, could you not?!” Noya yelped, face flushing. “I’m trying to help Kageyama!”

“Yes, well, you’re the expert. After all, nobody else in this coffeeshop has _any_ romantic experience at all,” Suga replied, grinning rather meanly.

Noya groaned. “Sorry, not all of us were _born married_ like you.”

“Get back to work, Noya,” Suga laughed, carrying the boxes away to the back room.

“Yeah, you have joint taxes to file with Daichi, I get it. Congrats on the baby and the mortgage,” Noya called after him, rolling his eyes and finally returning his attention back to Kageyama. “Okay. So. Where were we? Oh, right. Don’t worry, you’ll figure something out. I mean, if all of us can do it, why can’t you, right? Good luck!”

Noya departed before Kageyama could point out that he was just as clueless as he’d been fifteen minutes ago and Noya hadn’t genuinely helped him even once, but it was already too late, Noya was dealing with a customer and the rest of his shift passed in a blur of coffee and confusion. Kageyama had no idea what would be considered romantic. If a volleyball to the head wouldn’t make Hinata happy, what would? This was even harder than he’d expected.

“Hey, Shouyo! Welcome back!”

Kageyama’s head spun around so fast he thought he might have given himself whiplash, but who cares, Hinata was here and Kageyama was fully panicking. He hadn’t been able to think of a single romantic thing, and now his stupid crush was right here, looking at him and asking if he was okay.

“Yes! I’m fine, don’t worry!” Kageyama almost shouted. God, he needed to calm down.

“Well, good, I don’t want my partner getting sick,” Hinata said. “By the way, I have something…kinda important to tell you. It’s hard to say, though.”

“Why? What is it?” Kageyama asked.

“Nothing really, it’s just a little embarrassing, I guess,” Hinata mumbled.

“Oh. Tell me, then.” It couldn’t possibly be as embarrassing as what Kageyama was planning to tell him.

He was rocking back and forth on his heels now, hands behind his back, and Kageyama squinted. What the hell was his deal? “Uh, okay. Here I go.” He raised his eyes and started tentatively, “Kageyama…wait, what’s that smell?”

That hardly seemed worthy of weird behavior and it left Kageyama even more perplexed. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking! It smells familiar, but I can’t tell what it is.”

Kageyama thought hard. Could Hinata be smelling the pumpkin spice in the back? Maybe, he was always able to tell what flavors Kageyama put in his drinks.

He was suddenly struck with an idea that could, potentially, pass as romantic.

“Wait right here, I’ll be back in a minute. And close your eyes!” Kageyama rushed to the back and peeled the tape from the boxes. He pulled out one of the spice bags and carried it over to a coffeemaker away from the counter. He looked back to where Hinata was, and was happy to see his hands covering his eyes. As fast as possible, Kageyama made the one drink he hated above all others, though it didn’t piss him off nearly as much as before. He’d kind of become an expert at making it.

“Okay, you can look,” Kageyama said, but quickly retracted. “Wait, no, don’t, not yet. Just one last thing.” He took a marker and wrote what he wasn’t able to say on the cup. He hoped that it would be enough. “Alright, really this time. Open your eyes.”

Hinata opened his eyes and slowly sniffed the air. “Is that…?” He held out his hand for the cup and Kageyama slowly handed it over. Hinata took a sip and grinned widely. “Pumpkin spice! I can’t believe it, I thought you hated this drink!”

“I do, but I’m not drinking it, so I don’t care,” Kageyama said dismissively, but his heart was thudding loud in his chest seeing Hinata get so happy over one dumb latte.

“When did you guys get it? I haven’t heard anyone say anything!”

“This morning. We’re planning on selling it starting tomorrow, so you got the first one.” Kageyama could feel his face heat up. “I just wanted you to sample it, alright? It’s really nothing special.”

Hinata smiled. “Thanks, Kageyama,” he said, quieter than usual. Was Hinata blushing? No way, it was because of the drink, or the chill outside, or just because that was Hinata’s face. It did weird cute things all the time. Hinata’s hands were obscuring the writing and Kageyama both wanted him to see it and ensure the words never saw the light of day, he couldn’t tell which, so he stood there frozen. Hinata cleared his throat after a long minute and stammered, “Well, I…I have to go. Thanks for the drink! Should I be back later for practice?” Hinata hurriedly pulled on his hat and started towards the door.

“If you want to,” Kageyama called half-heartedly. He couldn’t imagine why Hinata would ever be back after knowing how Kageyama felt. It was a dumb idea, all of it, and he watched Hinata go for what had to be the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes kageyama you'll definitely never see hinata again. never ever. nope.


	8. ...and the end of the beginning

Hinata was really mad at himself, downright furious, in fact. He’d had a great opportunity back there to get everything off his chest, but he was too scared to do anything except wonder about dumb pumpkin smells. Even his favorite drink wasn’t enough to cheer him up. Probably because it had been made by Kageyama, who had no idea how much Hinata liked him. It was really frustrating that they saw each other almost every day, but Hinata had never worked up the courage to just _say it_.

Hinata sighed. He wished Kageyama had given him the first pumpkin spice latte of the season because Hinata was somehow special to him, but Kageyama probably played volleyball with tons of people. He was really good, so he was probably on a team. And he was cute, so he was probably dating someone anyway.

The last thought hurt more than the others did, but it had to be true. He was only special when he was hitting Kageyama’s tosses, not in any other way.

Hinata drained the last of his coffee from the cup and dropped it into a trash can on the sidewalk. The last bits of warmth faded from his mouth and he frowned, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he went.

Except…wait.

He walked back and squinted. There was something written on the side of the cup, something in Kageyama’s handwriting. That wasn’t unusual; Hinata had memorized the way his name looked in Kageyama’s spiky, cramped writing on the sides of his lattes, but that definitely wasn’t Hinata’s name, this scrawl comprised of whole sentences.

Okay, it was probably super gross to go rooting through the trash and there were people around, but Hinata yanked the cup out anyway, eyes flying over the words in a rush.

_Hinata - you’re an idiot, but I’m pretty sure I like you anyway, so will you go out with me?_

Hinata blinked. Blinked again. Rubbed his eyes and read the message over. It was the same as before. Funny, it almost seemed like a confession, but that would mean Kageyama liked him back. But that couldn’t be right. Could it?

Hinata ran as fast as possible back to the Crow’s Nest, mind buzzing. He shoved the door open and ran directly to the counter, pushing past other people at the register and ignoring their muttered complaints. This was more important.

“Kageyama!” he yelled, leaning over and shoving the cup in the other boy’s face. “What do you mean by this?!”

“W-what you mean, what do I mean?” Kageyama stuttered, looking besieged.

Hinata huffed impatiently. He didn’t have time for this. “Exactly that! Why’d you write this on my cup? What kind of ‘like’ do you mean?” he demanded.

The look on Kageyama’s face was one utterly foreign to Hinata, all twisted up and flustered. “Huh? Is that not obvious enough?” Kageyama said, quickly turning pink. He was glaring now, but somehow he didn’t seem angry. More like determined. “You really are a moron. Fine, maybe this is clearer.”

The next thing Hinata knew, something soft and warm was pressing lightly against his mouth. His eyes widened and, all too quickly, Kageyama pulled away from the kiss. If his face had been pink before, it was fully red now.

“There,” Kageyama muttered. “Do you get it now?”

Hinata gently touched his mouth as if he’d never realized it was part of his face before. “Huh,” he said. “So…so you meant ‘like’ in the romantic way?”

“Dumbass! Didn’t I just prove that?” Kageyama almost shouted.

“Well, that’s good!” Hinata said. Kageyama’s eyes widened and his face just kept getting redder, it was unbelievable.

“What? Is it?”

Kageyama didn’t have time to say anything else, because Hinata kissed him. Or tried to; their teeth kind of clicked together and it wasn’t very graceful, but the message got across just fine.

“Oh,” Kageyama said dumbly, blinking as Hinata pulled back.

“ _Oh?_ That’s all you have to say?” Hinata asked, indignant.

“Shut up! You should have told me sooner!” Kageyama burst out.

Hinata bristled. “Excuse me? You only told me today! How was I supposed to know you liked me back?”

“ _You_ should have just told _me!_ It would have made things way easier.”

“Maybe for you! For me it would have been worse!” Hinata sighed. “Well, whatever. It doesn’t really matter now, right?”

“No,” Kageyama mumbled. “So, are we…are we going out now?”

“Of course, you dummy,” Hinata said, smiling. He sealed the deal with another kiss. And, he was pleased to say, it went much better than the last one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, that's the end of this, we'll never see this dumb collegeverse again. it's not like i'm writing a series or anything. and it's not like the next part of the series which doesn't exist will be about nekoma gamestop or anything...


End file.
